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It all began on a glorious spring morning when teams from Japan, Taiwan, Canada, the US and Brazil lined up against New Zealand's best on a gentle rise deep in the southern mountains. Competitors started by walking a short distance up the Wilkin Valley to the foot of the 1000m Jumbo Ridge. The most obvious route up turned out to have an arduous detour in the middle — as teams who went this way soon found out to their cost. Having found an alternative route, Team Wet Coast (named after New Zealand's wet west coast), led by Kiwi Olympic mountain biker Kathy Lynch, immediately took the lead and by the time they stepped from the warm mountainside onto the harsh snowy ridge, they were well ahead.

Teams had been warned in the pre-race briefing that they would face "fresh morning Canada, New deep in up the L I 000m route up letour in this way rig found Coast west mountain took the ed from harsh lie which lilt up an Snow up to thigh deep" on Jumbo Ridge. The mountain safety co-ordinator had cut steps in the worst parts, but this didn't lessen the challenge. Overnight, the wind sourced and packed the snow creating a hard surface, and the lead teams moved quickly, reaching the bush at Albert Burn during daylight and negotiating it easily. But other teams who arrived after night fall struggled in the reduced visibility, describing the section as "diabolical".

The lead teams spent a beautiful night on the Albert Burn Saddle, surrounded ,by mountains lit by a near-full moon. But as dawn approached the wind picked up again. Out on Lake Wanaka, waves were building to two metres, making it too dan­gerous for kayaks and necessitating a course change with portage.

350km-long Southern Traverse is notorious amongst adventure racers for the terrain it covers through the moun­tains of New Zealand's South Island. Like all adventure races it is a multi-stage event, with competitors employing various methods to move between checkpoints. The Traverse has always had a secret start lo­cation and course, revealed to the com­petitors only at the pre race briefing.

This sixth Southern Traverse was designed by Geoff Hunt, a world-class ad­venture racer who has come in the top three places in both the Raid Gauloises and Eco Challenge. From experience he knew how to make a course interesting and challenging. His first move was to extend the course and add a half-day to the race time. But the real challenge this year was the unexpected harsh weather. Spring is always variable in the southern mountains, with snow a strong possibility, but nobody had predicted the feroc­ity of the weather that hit in the spring, making the four mountain passes and a mountain biking stage more of a chal­lenge than had been expected.